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29 September 2002 |
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WILDLIFE |
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| 7,000
snakes seized in raid, two men held |
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Authorities
seized about 7,000 live snakes _ worth more than 100 million
baht and destined for restaurants _ when they raided a house in
Muang district on Friday night.
Inside they found 700 boxes, each with 9-10 snakes, and three
boxes containing dried snakes.
Two workers, Leetang Salee, 19, and Adul Intaka, 18, were
arrested and charged with illegally possessing protected
animals. San Jaiphupae, the house owner, was not found.
Yesterday, authorities raided an adjacent house, also owned by
Mr San, and found a large quantity of frozen and dried snake
meat stored in three wells.
They also found 10 turtles and five monitor lizards in the
house.
Mitchai Anantakul, a forestry official, said yesterday the snake
meat would be destroyed while the live snakes would be sorted.
Poisonous snakes would be handed to the Snake Garden, while
harmless ones would be released in forest reserves.
Mr Mitchai said the snakes were destined for exotic restaurants
within and outside Thailand.
The seized snakes were worth more than 100 million baht,
forestry officials said.
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